Red-eyed Thornbird

phacellodomus erythrophthalmus

Furnariidae,Synallaxinae · Spinetails, Castaneros

Disc 2 · 2001 listed
Disc 3 · 2006 listed
Disc 1 · 2011 listed

The account

Description

7.1" Consists of two quite different forms. The nominate race erythropthalmus (Orange-eyed Thornbird) has an orange iris. It is olive-chestnut-brown above with rufous only on the forecrown. Below olive-brown, lighter than above, throat rufous. Tail entirely rufous.

Ferrugineigula (Red-Eyed Thornbird) has a red iris. It is olive-chestnut-brown above with the entire crown back to the nape deep rufous. The throat and breast are orange with a rusty tinge becoming buff-yellow on the belly and brown on the lower flanks. The tail is dark brown with the three outer rectrices rusty.

Nest and environs. Picinguaba, east of Ubatuba. Photograph by Fritz Mueller. Disc 3 · 2006

Where it was recorded

The discs' own checklists select Red-eyed Thornbird at 8 localities.

Historical checklist localities on the disc's own area map — the red dots the original program drew, placed by its recovered projection. Not a range map: it shows the places whose checklists record the bird, nothing more.

How the map was made

The original program computed each red dot at display time from the locality's coordinates, using its map library and one of five base maps drawn for the screen widths of the day. That library's projection — an oblique rotation of the sphere about the map's own centre, 23.7°S 47.4°W — was read from the program and checked against the graticule the same program drew into the base maps: it reproduces every grid intersection to within about a pixel. The dots here use that projection on the 1280-pixel base map, with the coordinates the discs record. Nothing was placed by hand, no modern map data was used, and a place whose coordinate is incomplete, out of range or beyond the map's edge is listed rather than guessed.

The discs carried location maps only; none shows a distribution or range.

Voice

Erythropthalmus: In the beginning, what Sick calls a horizontal introductory sequence 'chri chri chri', then a descending drawn out 'ziieep ziiep ziiep ziiep zieep'. Calls are a repeated 'zik zik zik zik' and 'qui qui qui'. Can be heard on ¹¹³. The first part of track #3 which sounds much like the song of ferrugineigula, but appears to be somewhat higher pitched and thinner, was recorded at Picinguaba near Ubatuba!

Ferrugineigula: a quite different repeated 'Ku quiu quiu quiu quiu quiu ku'. This song is described in ⁴⁴. It gives also a sequence of 'zeck' or 'zjet' calls.

Behavior

Well hidden in its swampy habitat, hopping around within thickets, a skulker, even when singing. The best way to observe this species is to locate a nest and watch the birds build or feed.

Breeding

Nest is a prominent structure, often easy to find: a conglomerate of twigs, about 1 foot long, suspended from a branch and hanging over water or swampland. It has a main- and an ante-chamber (Sick ³⁰).

Habitat and status

In thickets bordering swampy areas and in wet swampy and brushy sand forest. Also in gallery scrub along brooks. Local, but not uncommon.

Distribution

Erythropthalmus occurs coastally and north from Est. São Paulo. Ferrugineigula is found further south and inland. There are four specimens of ferrugineigula from Mogi das Cruzes (José Lima, 3-29-1933)in the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, MA. Near Taubate both forms occur, but erythropthalmus only on the east side of the valley (⁴⁷). Both forms occur sympatrically at Campo Grande, São Paulo City and near Visconde de Mauá, Est. Rio de Janeiro (⁴⁶).

Taxonomy notes

The sympatric occurrence of two different races suggests they are different species.

Decoded from the disc's own bytes. Each part is shown under the heading the disc files it under, and the wording, spelling and punctuation are the author's.

Vocalizations

Calls of erythropthalmus. Serra Bocaina, near S. Jose do Barreiro, 11/3/93. Sunny, 23°C. Open secondary forest.
Song of erythropthalmus. Picinguaba, east of Ubatuba. (12 sec) 11/20/98. Cloudy, 20°C. Bushes in swampy area. With Drymophila ferruginea. (remainder) 10/16/99. Sunny, 30°C. Swamp in forest. With Tolmomyias sulphurescens, Terenura maculata, Herpsilochmus rufimarginatus.
(35sec) Calls of erythrophthalmus, (12sec), song of erythrophthalmus, 10/15/99, Picinguaba, east of Ubatuba. Sunny, 30°C. Swamp in forest. With Thryothorus longirostris.
Song, calls of erythrophthalmus. (34sec) Cornell Cat#47990. With Saltator similis, Columba plumbea. plus (13sec) Song. Cornell Cat#47884. both Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro, 10/24/89. Recording by P. Isler.
Song of ferrugineigula. Cornell Cat#19096. Encruzilhada Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, 10/25/72. Recording by Recording by W. Belton.
Song of ferrugineigula. Cornell Cat#32175. Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, 11/22/82. T. Parker.

Recording files on the disc

1703.mp3 Calls of erythropthalmus. Serra Bocaina, near S. Jose do Barreiro, 11/3/93. Sunny, 23°C. Open secondary forest.
3115.wav Song of erythropthalmus. Picinguaba, east of Ubatuba. (12 sec) 11/20/98. Cloudy, 20°C. Bushes in swampy area. With Drymophila ferruginea. (remainder) 10/16/99. Sunny, 30°C. Swamp in forest. With Tolmomyias sulphurescens, Terenura maculata, Herpsilochmus rufimarginatus.
8751.wav (35sec) Calls of erythrophthalmus, (12sec), song of erythrophthalmus, 10/15/99, Picinguaba, east of Ubatuba. Sunny, 30°C. Swamp in forest. With Thryothorus longirostris.
7544.wav Song, calls of erythrophthalmus. (34sec) Cornell Cat#47990. With Saltator similis, Columba plumbea. plus (13sec) Song. Cornell Cat#47884. both Itatiaia National Park, Rio de Janeiro, 10/24/89. Recording by P. Isler.
7332.wav Song of ferrugineigula. Cornell Cat#19096. Encruzilhada Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, 10/25/72. Recording by Recording by W. Belton.
12403.mp3 Song of ferrugineigula. Cornell Cat#32175. Rio Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, 11/22/82. T. Parker.

More images

ferrugineigula Disc 3 · 2006
Phacellodomus erythrophthalmus erythrophthalms building nest. Picinguaba, east of Ubatuba. Photograph by Fritz Mueller. Disc 3 · 2006
erythropthalmus Disc 3 · 2006

Across the three discs

The work was published on three discs — Disc 2 in 2001, Disc 3 in 2006 and Disc 1 in 2011. Where they differ, that is a difference between historical releases, and it is never merged away. The 2011 disc is not treated as correcting the earlier ones.

Which discs list this bird

Disc 2 · 2001 — in this disc's bird list
Disc 3 · 2006 — in this disc's bird list
Disc 1 · 2011 — in this disc's bird list

How that was established

Disc 2 · 2001: aux_nonzero;local_checklist_byte45_flag_1
Disc 3 · 2006: aux_nonzero;local_checklist_byte45_flag_1
Disc 1 · 2011: aux_nonzero;local_checklist_byte45_flag_1

The disc's own record fields that place the bird on its list: a non-empty entry in the species table, and the byte that marks it as selected on a local checklist.

Names by release

Red-eyed Thornbird phacellodomus erythropthalmus Disc 2 · 2001
Red-eyed Thornbird phacellodomus erythrophthalmus Disc 3 · 2006, Disc 1 · 2011

The account in the Disc 1 · 2011 revision

In the 2011 Disc 1 revision, part of this account was truncated at exactly 512 bytes (a 2011 mastering defect). The earlier releases preserve the complete text.

Truncated sections in the 2011 revision: description; voice. The complete earlier text is shown beneath each truncated section.

Description Disc 1 · 2011

Disc 1 (2011) text ends here — truncated at exactly 512 bytes in the 2011 mastering (historical defect, kept as recovered).

Complete earlier text — Disc 3 · 2006 (70 bytes lost in 2011)

Shown for comparison from the Disc 3 · 2006; it does not repair or replace the Disc 1 · 2011 historical text above.

Voice Disc 1 · 2011

Ferrugineigula: a quite different repeated 'Ku quiu quiu quiu quiu quiu ku'. This song